ST. PETERS • There will be a new Missouri Water Polo champion this season.
Ladue junior Chris Shirley scored from just beyond the mid-pool line with just over five seconds left to give seventh-seeded Rams a 9-8 upset victory over second-seeded DeSmet in district tournament quarterfinal action Wednesday at the Rec-Plex.
"It feels great, but it wasn't the game-winning goal. All of them were the game-winning goals," Shirley said. "It's all a group effort."
Ladue (15-13) will face Parkway South (18-2) in Friday's 8:30 p.m. semifinal.
"Since I've been at Ladue, this is my first time in the final four," said Rams coach Corey Miller, now in his sixth season. "I don't think we've had a team in the final four since the early 2000s."
Meanwhile, DeSmet's reign as defending Missouri Water Polo champion comes to an end short of the semifinals.
"Certainly, one of our goals was to get back to the final four, so we fall short there," Spartans coach Miguel Figueras said. "But a lot of our younger guys got a lot of great experience and got to step up and get some quality time."
DeSmet (27-8) scored the only goal of the first quarter on an Aaron Adcock tally 1:45 into the game and the Spartans had a good start to the second quarter with early goals from Zach Holtgrewe and Keenan Berry coming after Ladue's Brian Sableman tied it at one.
Then came a four-goal spurt by Ladue to end the first half.
Forrest Donnell fueled the run with three straight goals in a span of one minute and 50 seconds and Max Wahl capped it to make it 5-3 at halftime.
"He's just an outstanding player," Miller said of Donnell. "He's just a go-to guy. He's got good moves and great speed. He's just a guy who likes to go score."
Andrew Diemer scored the first two goals of the second half to bring DeSmet even at five, but Donnell scored his fourth of the game and Wahl his second to put Ladue back up 7-5 after three quarters.
But the Spartans again battled back as Berry capped a two-on-one with a goal and Diemer scored on a five-meter penalty throw to square things at seven. Wahl then notched his hat trick goal with 4:40 left to put the Rams up 8-7 and set up a dramatic final 10 seconds.
Patrick Shrewsbury scored six seconds into a man-advantage to tie it at eight with 10 seconds to play, prompting Miller to call a timeout and set up one last play.
Off the re-start, Shirley tossed it back to his goalie, Dan Magruder, who quickly got it right back to Shirley. He then fired a long shot that skipped one time off the water and right past DeSmet goalie Matt Brethorst.
"Actually, that was the exact play," Miller said of what was discussed in the timeout. "I'll be honest when I say I didn't expect it to go in. The guys in front of the goal are supposed to crash and pick up the slop and score that thing, but hey it went into the goal. That's why you shoot it."
The game wasn't quite over, though, as Magruder had to make a huge save off a re-directed shot by the Spartans as time expired.
"These guys just have a lot of heart," Miller said of his team. "We said at the beginning of the season that we were gonna have to learn how to win and play through the whole game no matter what happens."
In other quarterfinal action Wednesday at the St. Peters Rec-Plex:
Parkway South 11, John Burroughs 8 • The third-seeded Patriots scored three goals in the game's final three-and-a-half minutes to break an 8-8 tie and oust the sixth-seeded Bombers (19-6).
Seven different Patriots scored goals, led by three tallies apiece by Colby Faddis and Thomas Morgan.
"We have so many guys on this team that are so valuable," Parkway South coach Mike McGinnis said. "Our scoring is pretty well-balanced all the way through. I'm just proud of them. We found a way to win."
Parkway West 11, MICDS 7 • Steven Emde scored four goals and Thomas Lyonfields added three more as the fourth-seeded Longhorns (24-6) knocked off the fifth-seeded Rams (13-10) to earn what is believed to be the team's first semifinal appearance since the district championship season of 1985.
"If you had told me at the beginning of the year that we'd be in the final four, I don't think I would have believed you," said Parkway West coach Charlie Cutelli, whose team was just 10-15 a year ago. "But they came together."
SLUH 11, Marquette 3 • In the day's only blowout, the top-seeded Junior Billikens (26-1) got four goals from Sam Erlinger to top the eighth-seeded Mustangs (8-9) and rack up their 24th consecutive semifinal appearance.
"Defense wins and I thought we played really well and kept our composure," Jr. Bills coach Paul Baudendistel said. "I think we did a good job of helping on defense and moved enough on offense. It was definitely a team win."
SLUH will take on Parkway West in Friday's 7 p.m. semifinal.
